Louise Nevelson American, 1899-1988

Louise Nevelson was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. She was born in present-day Ukraine and emigrated with her family to the United States in the early 20th century. By the early 1930s she was attending art classes at the Arts Students League of New York, and in 1941 she had her first solo exhibitions. A student of Hans Hofmann and Chaim Gross, Nevelson experimented with early conceptual art using found objects.

A figure in the international art scene, Nevelson was showcased at the 31st Venice Biennale. Her first major retrospective took place in 1967 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Princeston University commissioned Nevelson to create a monumental outdoor steel sculpture in 1969, the same year the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gave her a solo exhibition. Her work is held in major collections in museums and corporations, and she remains one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American sculpture.